Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of Dramione: Anthologies
Collections:
Dramione Stories
Stats:
Published:
2022-12-26
Completed:
2022-12-26
Words:
2,278
Chapters:
3/3
Comments:
25
Kudos:
65
Bookmarks:
47
Hits:
7,914

All Fics: Table of Contents [live]

Summary:

I've used chapter 1 to lay out some thoughts on the relationships between fans, canon and creators. Just want fic? Head to the Dramione ToC here and the X-Files ToC here.

Chapter 1: A Note on Canon and Creators

Chapter Text

I currently write fic in the X-Files and Harry Potter fandoms (mainly Dramione), which can be found in Chapters 2 and 3 of this ToC. I am also guilty of reading fanfic about Nick and Judy from Zootopia, though I have not yet written any fox/rabbit fluff. (If it's a fox and a rabbit, it's fluff by default, right?)

While I believe that stories outlive their creators — and that we would lose the bulk of published literature if we threw creations out with their creators, especially in the case of the "classics" — it's impossible to engage with either franchise without acknowledging its toxic or outdated elements.

Certain episodes of the X-Files are famously embarrassing on issues of race, gender, and disability. Taken all together, the overall compassion, curiosity and sensitivity of the series leads me to believe Chris Carter and his crew were more misguided than malicious in their portrayals. That, together with the fact that Dana Scully inspired an entire generation of women to enter STEM, leads me to engage with the X-Files with a patient eyeroll: it was the 1990s, and the series' mistakes offer an eye-opening portrait of how far we've come on several issues.

In the case of Potter, I am more conflicted. A confession: I don't really like the books. I vividly remember browsing book #1 in a bookstore when it came out and finding the language mediocre even for YA. I don't like their writing style, I don't like the majority of the plots, and I don't like the suffocating assumptions that pervade even the wizarding world. Strangest of all, I hate Harry Potter himself. A reanimated, shuffling corpse would have more personality and interior life than the Boy Who Lived. The fact that reading the series requires reading about Harry is one of its major drawbacks for me. Funny, right? 

But I do love Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, whose relationship creates space to explore a panorama of human experiences: immigration and initiation (hers into the wizarding world, his into a wider world); power dynamics in love (pureblood/Muggleborn); the impact of trauma/PTSD (his upbringing in bigotry and dysfunction, her war trauma); the plight of a possibly neurodivergent woman surrounded and used by clueless men (Hermione among the Gryffindors); the morality of dismissing an entire Hogwarts house as inherently evil; the journey of choosing a lover rather than accepting the one your lazy author decreed for you (Ron...); the exhaustion of waging neverending, inherited wars; the cycle of guilt and redemption; and more.

It's impossible to love Scully as I do without loving Hermione or any other brilliant girl trying to find wholeness and fulfillment in a world run by men. And in Tom Felton's magnetic, transparent, deeply queer performances, it's impossible not to see Draco's potential if only he were under the right influences.

In the end, I believe romance is only superficially about the smut (though bring on the smut): it's about addressing why characters don't believe they can love or be loved. Romance is about healing, and to that end, it is about a soul-deep acceptance of self and others. It's about the love that flows not just between lovebirds, but about the love that binds us together as communities and as fellow cosmic travelers.

To that end, I write Potter fic to fill gaps in canon, to bring Hermione the sex and celebration she deserves, to bring Draco the redemption and healing he was denied, and to find distance from canon's toxic elements, including its cisheteronormativity, its fatphobia, its Eurocentrism, and its jaw-droppingly antisemitic imagery (as seen at Gringotts and in the recently released Hogwarts Legacy game). And of course, its author.

JKR's words and choices actively harm trans people. It's true today and unfortunately likely to be true long into the future. She is the more harmful because she is so well-read and well-spoken, framing everything as concern for women and girls, even as she funds a shelter for cis women only in Edinburgh (her justification: trans women can go to the "other" shelter, run by a trans woman). She's no longer experiencing a "middle-aged moment" — she's weaponizing her own sexual trauma into a campaign against non-cis women. What a blow to queer people who grew up with the books, who used them as a lifeline during their own journeys of transition and coming of age, as their author continues this grim descent. 

By way of example, a good friend's oldest teenage daughter recently transitioned; she and her younger sisters have been grappling with their lifelong love of the books vs. the knowledge that JKR classifies her as a threat to "real" women. Watching all the girls, cis and trans, reclaim the books on their own terms as fans and critical thinkers has fueled me to continue writing fic that challenges the portrayals in the books. That dislodges both Draco and Hermione as exclusively straight, exclusively cis people; that creates space for characters like Pansy and Theo to step into their queerness; and more. In the words of Bonnie Wright (who played Ginny Weasley): “If [the series] was a source of love and belonging for you, that love is infinite and there to take without judgment or question." 

In the end, why bother? Because throughout history, a small group of people has controlled mass storytelling. Fanfiction is corrective. It offers a space for (mostly) non-cis men to rewrite narratives that were mishandled by the original authors. It enlarges our world by adding more stories and possibilities to it, as well as shaking the foundations of what we consider "canonical" in life as well as lit. It offers a space to write explicitly about desire to a degree and length even professional romance writers wouldn't be allowed to do. And let's admit it, the best fic is influenced by and shares qualities with the best serious fiction.

It is, at root, a literary activity that is about satisfying the reader in a way I'm not sure any other genre aims to do. What's not to love about that?

Here endeth the screed. And if I do write about foxes and rabbits, I may include them in this ToC...or I might not. There are some things even I can't put my name on. 

—love, scully

 

Chapter 2: Dramione

Summary:

100+ stories for you (including some Russian translation!). Organized by tone and era, all HEA unless noted. TW for triggers ahead. 10 representative fics are collected here.

I landed here when I read Mortifying Ordeal, By the Book, Nectere, The Dryrtle Chronicles, and A Bloody Idiot and fell in love forever. Thank you to every writer adding texture, complexity, originality, throbbing horninesse to the Dramioneverse.

Chapter Text

New for 2023-2024:

Anthologies (grab bags of all genres/ratings, some reposted solo):

Hogwarts Era

Fluffiest Comedies: (age-ascending, Voldemort Who?):

Angst and Complexity:

Adulthood General:

A Range of Emotions:

Porn, Thirst, Tension That Is Sexual (D/H 18+):

General Garbage (in ascending order of indecency):

Cheeky Staff Role Playing

TW/Trauma-Based Role Play/Thou Wilt Need Hug:

Other Subcategories (more to come)

Shakespeare, Poetry/Literature, & TV-Inspired

Draco Learning New/Muggle Things:

First and Second in Marks (homework/classroom scenes):

Time With Other Characters:

Theodore Is His Own Category:

DADA: Draco Adorability/Dysfunction Assessment (from most toxic to most adorable)

Chapter 3: X-Files

Notes:

The series that got me writing (if my name didn't give it away). What got me writing is the generosity of SisterSpooky1013, who got me the AO3 invite, and what kept me writing is the hard work of OnlyTheInevitable, who hosts more fic exchanges than God herself. It is such a pleasure to be part of two fandoms that are so ancient and hold so much collective knowledge of Scully, Hermione, and the men who love them.

Chapter Text

New for Spring 2022

Anthologies:

Angst/Romance

Fluffy Fun

Purest Porn

Crossover

Other Subcategories:

Emily

Exchange Fics

Episodes/Eras

 

Series this work belongs to: